Make backup copy of installation disk?

[Lord Vetinari]

"Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
news:hinqsv$mtj$1@news.albasani.net...
> On 1/14/10, Lord Vetinari posted:
>> "Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:hilkp1$9ek$1@news.albasani.net...
>>> On 1/11/10, aaaaa posted:
>>>> On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 1934 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
>>>> <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>> Find, download, and install CDBurnerXP. It's free, and it easily makes
>>>>> ISO files and easily burns them to CDs or DVDs.
>>>
>>>
>>>> I tried it twice. Both created CDs (XP installation disk(\) were
>>>> created, but were not bootable. When I read the web instructions, it
>>>> appears that I would need a 'boot image' to make such CDs bootable,
>>>> which I do not have.
>>>
>>>> Thanks anyway
>>>
>>> Were you careful to choose the option "Burn ISO image"? If you burned
>>> the ISO to the disc as a *data* disc, it won't be bootable. It won't be
>>> much of anything...
>
>> Heh...a couple of times, I accidentally burned to a DVD, when it needed
>> to be a CD, and vice versa. Took a couple of minutes to figure out what
>> I'd done wrong.
>
> Interesting. I had assumed that doing that would just waste a few GB of
> unused track and a few pennies.
>
> Meaning that say 100 MB is about 1/7 of a CD and 1/44 of a DVD, but I
> thought either one would boot the same.
>
> Needless to say, I never tried that, so I had no way of knowing.

It may have been something else that I did wrong, but they certainly didn't
work at all.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On 1/14/10, Lord Vetinari posted:
> "Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
> news:hinqsv$mtj$1@news.albasani.net...
>> On 1/14/10, Lord Vetinari posted:
>>> "Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:hilkp1$9ek$1@news.albasani.net...
>>>> On 1/11/10, aaaaa posted:
>>>>> On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 1934 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
>>>>> <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> Find, download, and install CDBurnerXP. It's free, and it easily makes
>>>>>> ISO files and easily burns them to CDs or DVDs.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I tried it twice. Both created CDs (XP installation disk(\) were
>>>>> created, but were not bootable. When I read the web instructions, it
>>>>> appears that I would need a 'boot image' to make such CDs bootable,
>>>>> which I do not have.
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks anyway
>>>>
>>>> Were you careful to choose the option "Burn ISO image"? If you burned the
>>>> ISO to the disc as a *data* disc, it won't be bootable. It won't be much
>>>> of anything...
>>
>>> Heh...a couple of times, I accidentally burned to a DVD, when it needed to
>>> be a CD, and vice versa. Took a couple of minutes to figure out what I'd
>>> done wrong.
>>
>> Interesting. I had assumed that doing that would just waste a few GB of
>> unused track and a few pennies.
>>
>> Meaning that say 100 MB is about 1/7 of a CD and 1/44 of a DVD, but I
>> thought either one would boot the same.
>>
>> Needless to say, I never tried that, so I had no way of knowing.

> It may have been something else that I did wrong, but they certainly didn't
> work at all.

Yeah - life with computers

Someday - maybe the next leap year - I'll experiement with this, if I
remember ...

--
Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com

 

[Joel]

aaaaa <b@c.d> wrote:

>If I buy a Window 7 system, can I back up the installation DVD to
>guard against the original disk becoming unreadable? If so how?


Copying the DVD-ROM shouldn't be too difficult, but it's neither here
nor there. Microsoft provides a trivially easy way to download ISOs
of Windows 7. You just need a program that can generate an SHA1 hash.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/securedownloads/default.aspx?pv=36:350

Windows 7 Home Premium (x86) - DVD (English)
Includes: Home Premium; 08/24/2009
2,385.99 (M
File Name: en_windows_7_home_premium_x86_dvd_x15-65732.iso
Date Posted (UTC): 8/6/2009 9:59:56 AM ISO/CRC: 5DF6DBA0
SHA1: CC9D8220B2179E784D85BF1EA98D2EE2190D534F

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found en_windows_7_home_premium_x86_dvd_x15-65732.iso on a torrent
(or binary NG, Web/FTP server), and generated the hash:

# MD5 checksums generated by MD5summer (http://www.md5summer.org)
# Generated 1/13/2010 56:45 AM

[That particular program has a menu to choose between MD5 and SHA1
hashes before you select the file(s) to scan, but for some reason says
MD5 in the results either way.]

cc9d8220b2179e784d85bf1ea98d2ee2190d534f
*en_windows_7_home_premium_x86_dvd_x15-65732.iso

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Voila. Now my friend can try out Win7 on his XP machine, if he wants
to, and decide if he actually wants to buy it. If so, he can just
order the System Builder OEM package from Newegg.com, and plug in the
Product Key when it comes, without even reinstalling. I installed
from the equivalent ISO of Professional 32-bit before Newegg was even
allowed to mail me my package, and just didn't activate till it came
in the mail.

I recently reinstalled from the official DVD-ROM, just because I now
have it and happened to want to reinstall, but let's say that a
Service Pack has been released by the time I next want to reinstall.
I'll find the MSDN ISO of Professional 32-bit with
Service Pack [number], and install with my Product Key, and go
straight to downloading the Windows Updates for the newest Service
Pack.

--
Joel Crump

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

Dave-UK wrote:
> "aaaaa" <b@c.d> wrote in message
> news:mjkmk51ki7gfqbqjm87t77qum0klev895e@4ax.com...
>> On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 1934 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
>> <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Find, download, and install CDBurnerXP. It's free, and it easily
>>> makes ISO files and easily burns them to CDs or DVDs.
>>
>>
>> I tried it twice. Both created CDs (XP installation disk(\) were
>> created, but were not bootable. When I read the web instructions, it
>> appears that I would need a 'boot image' to make such CDs bootable,
>> which I do not have.
>>
>> Thanks anyway
>
> You seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill here.
> If you buy a Win7 system which comes with an installation
> DVD just copy the DVD. If the original was bootable then
> the copy will be bootable.
> Use the free Imgburn to read your installation DVD, here
> are the steps to do that:
> http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=6379
> You can select to save between iso, bin or img/cue file types.
> That will create a bootable iso image file.
> Here is how to burn the bootable image file to a blank DVD:
> http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61
>
> Download ImgBurn from here:
> http://www.imgburn.com/
>
> You say you don't trust DVDs for storage but Win7 will be long
> gone before your DVD starts to disintegrate.
>
> As I said in my first post you don't need to mess about with
> DVDs for storage/backup, just use Win7 to image itself onto
> another hard disk - either internal or external. My Win7 64 C
> drive image is 28 G/b.
> Then if your C drive crashes or you want to fit a bigger drive,
> boot from the Win7 repair CD and restore the image.
> You can create the Win7 repair CD anytime, it's 145 M/b and has
> repair tools on it as well.

Please forgive me for butting in but I need exactly the same help. I have a
new laptop with pre-installed Win 7. It allowed me to make *only one* set
of DVDs (took 3 DVDs) and all that would do would be to allow me to return
the notebook back to factory. I could find nothing about making a Win7
repair CD with repair tools. Could you please advice a novice how to create
that CD?

I created image backups to an external HD but that would noty help me if I
cannot bot the Win 7 laptop.

Thanks, Jeff

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

On 1/18/10, Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com posted:
> Dave-UK wrote:
>> "aaaaa" <b@c.d> wrote in message
>> news:mjkmk51ki7gfqbqjm87t77qum0klev895e@4ax.com...
>>> On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 1934 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
>>> <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Find, download, and install CDBurnerXP. It's free, and it easily
>>>> makes ISO files and easily burns them to CDs or DVDs.
>>>
>>>
>>> I tried it twice. Both created CDs (XP installation disk(\) were
>>> created, but were not bootable. When I read the web instructions, it
>>> appears that I would need a 'boot image' to make such CDs bootable,
>>> which I do not have.
>>>
>>> Thanks anyway
>>
>> You seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill here.
>> If you buy a Win7 system which comes with an installation
>> DVD just copy the DVD. If the original was bootable then
>> the copy will be bootable.
>> Use the free Imgburn to read your installation DVD, here
>> are the steps to do that:
>> http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=6379
>> You can select to save between iso, bin or img/cue file types.
>> That will create a bootable iso image file.
>> Here is how to burn the bootable image file to a blank DVD:
>> http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61
>>
>> Download ImgBurn from here:
>> http://www.imgburn.com/
>>
>> You say you don't trust DVDs for storage but Win7 will be long
>> gone before your DVD starts to disintegrate.
>>
>> As I said in my first post you don't need to mess about with
>> DVDs for storage/backup, just use Win7 to image itself onto
>> another hard disk - either internal or external. My Win7 64 C
>> drive image is 28 G/b.
>> Then if your C drive crashes or you want to fit a bigger drive,
>> boot from the Win7 repair CD and restore the image.
>> You can create the Win7 repair CD anytime, it's 145 M/b and has
>> repair tools on it as well.

> Please forgive me for butting in but I need exactly the same help. I have a
> new laptop with pre-installed Win 7. It allowed me to make *only one* set of
> DVDs (took 3 DVDs) and all that would do would be to allow me to return the
> notebook back to factory. I could find nothing about making a Win7 repair CD
> with repair tools. Could you please advice a novice how to create that CD?

> I created image backups to an external HD but that would noty help me if I
> cannot bot the Win 7 laptop.

> Thanks, Jeff

Control Panel -> Back up your computer -> Create a system repair disk

One CD seems to be enough for that one.

It is a different beast from what you made, which is a *recovery* set,
not a *repair* disc.

A recovery set takes your system back to its birth, that is, it ends up
exactly as it came from the factory, losing all changes that were made,
such as your data, your software, your user accounts, and so on.

The repair disc lets you (insert dramatic pause here) *repair* Windows,
that is clean up some problems, supposedly leaving your stuff
unchanged.

--
Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com

 

[Ophelia]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

<Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com> wrote in message
news:nza5n.6765$5m.2503@newsfe12.iad...
> Dave-UK wrote:
>> "aaaaa" <b@c.d> wrote in message
>> news:mjkmk51ki7gfqbqjm87t77qum0klev895e@4ax.com...
>>> On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 1934 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
>>> <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Find, download, and install CDBurnerXP. It's free, and it easily
>>>> makes ISO files and easily burns them to CDs or DVDs.
>>>
>>>
>>> I tried it twice. Both created CDs (XP installation disk(\) were
>>> created, but were not bootable. When I read the web instructions, it
>>> appears that I would need a 'boot image' to make such CDs bootable,
>>> which I do not have.
>>>
>>> Thanks anyway
>>
>> You seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill here.
>> If you buy a Win7 system which comes with an installation
>> DVD just copy the DVD. If the original was bootable then
>> the copy will be bootable.
>> Use the free Imgburn to read your installation DVD, here
>> are the steps to do that:
>> http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=6379
>> You can select to save between iso, bin or img/cue file types.
>> That will create a bootable iso image file.
>> Here is how to burn the bootable image file to a blank DVD:
>> http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61
>>
>> Download ImgBurn from here:
>> http://www.imgburn.com/
>>
>> You say you don't trust DVDs for storage but Win7 will be long
>> gone before your DVD starts to disintegrate.
>>
>> As I said in my first post you don't need to mess about with
>> DVDs for storage/backup, just use Win7 to image itself onto
>> another hard disk - either internal or external. My Win7 64 C
>> drive image is 28 G/b.
>> Then if your C drive crashes or you want to fit a bigger drive,
>> boot from the Win7 repair CD and restore the image.
>> You can create the Win7 repair CD anytime, it's 145 M/b and has
>> repair tools on it as well.
>
> Please forgive me for butting in but I need exactly the same help. I have
> a new laptop with pre-installed Win 7. It allowed me to make *only one*
> set of DVDs (took 3 DVDs) and all that would do would be to allow me to
> return the notebook back to factory. I could find nothing about making a
> Win7 repair CD with repair tools. Could you please advice a novice how to
> create that CD?
>
> I created image backups to an external HD but that would noty help me if I
> cannot bot the Win 7 laptop.

That is why you need to:

'create a system repair disc'

Within control panel/backup and restore


>
> Thanks, Jeff
>
>

--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

 

[Ophelia]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

"Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
news:hj3df6$i46$1@news.albasani.net...
> One CD seems to be enough for that one.
>
> It is a different beast from what you made, which is a *recovery* set, not
> a *repair* disc.
>
> A recovery set takes your system back to its birth, that is, it ends up
> exactly as it came from the factory, losing all changes that were made,
> such as your data, your software, your user accounts, and so on.
>
> The repair disc lets you (insert dramatic pause here) *repair* Windows,
> that is clean up some problems, supposedly leaving your stuff unchanged.

Oops just seen your post You beat me to it

--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

 

[Dave-UK]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

<Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com> wrote in message news:nza5n.6765$5m.2503@newsfe12.iad...
> Dave-UK wrote:
>> "aaaaa" <b@c.d> wrote in message
>
> Please forgive me for butting in but I need exactly the same help. I have a
> new laptop with pre-installed Win 7. It allowed me to make *only one* set
> of DVDs (took 3 DVDs) and all that would do would be to allow me to return
> the notebook back to factory. I could find nothing about making a Win7
> repair CD with repair tools. Could you please advice a novice how to create
> that CD?
>
> I created image backups to an external HD but that would noty help me if I
> cannot bot the Win 7 laptop.
>
> Thanks, Jeff
>
>

You don't say how you imaged your C drive but if you use
Win7 to do it you will be asked if you want to create a
repair disk. As has been said, you can create a repair
disk anytime. It's about 140M/b, fits on a CD.
Here's how I imaged my C drive:
http://www.admin1.myzen.co.uk/Win7BackUP.htm

 

[SC Tom]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com wrote:
> Dave-UK wrote:
>> "aaaaa" <b@c.d> wrote in message
>> news:mjkmk51ki7gfqbqjm87t77qum0klev895e@4ax.com...
>>> On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 1934 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
>>> <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Find, download, and install CDBurnerXP. It's free, and it easily
>>>> makes ISO files and easily burns them to CDs or DVDs.
>>>
>>>
>>> I tried it twice. Both created CDs (XP installation disk(\) were
>>> created, but were not bootable. When I read the web instructions,
>>> it appears that I would need a 'boot image' to make such CDs
>>> bootable, which I do not have.
>>>
>>> Thanks anyway
>>
>> You seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill here.
>> If you buy a Win7 system which comes with an installation
>> DVD just copy the DVD. If the original was bootable then
>> the copy will be bootable.
>> Use the free Imgburn to read your installation DVD, here
>> are the steps to do that:
>> http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=6379
>> You can select to save between iso, bin or img/cue file types.
>> That will create a bootable iso image file.
>> Here is how to burn the bootable image file to a blank DVD:
>> http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61
>>
>> Download ImgBurn from here:
>> http://www.imgburn.com/
>>
>> You say you don't trust DVDs for storage but Win7 will be long
>> gone before your DVD starts to disintegrate.
>>
>> As I said in my first post you don't need to mess about with
>> DVDs for storage/backup, just use Win7 to image itself onto
>> another hard disk - either internal or external. My Win7 64 C
>> drive image is 28 G/b.
>> Then if your C drive crashes or you want to fit a bigger drive,
>> boot from the Win7 repair CD and restore the image.
>> You can create the Win7 repair CD anytime, it's 145 M/b and has
>> repair tools on it as well.
>
> Please forgive me for butting in but I need exactly the same help. I
> have a new laptop with pre-installed Win 7. It allowed me to make
> *only one* set of DVDs (took 3 DVDs) and all that would do would be
> to allow me to return the notebook back to factory. I could find
> nothing about making a Win7 repair CD with repair tools. Could you
> please advice a novice how to create that CD?
>
> I created image backups to an external HD but that would noty help me
> if I cannot bot the Win 7 laptop.
>
> Thanks, Jeff

Depending on what you used to create the hard drive image, you don't need
any OS installed to recover it. Programs such as Acronis True Image allow
you to create a boot CD, and by booting from it, you can restore that image
to a new blank hard drive if your old one crashes.
--
SC Tom

 

[Lord Vetinari]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

"Ophelia" <Ophelia@Elsinore.me.uk> wrote in message
news:7rl7fuFv2sU1@mid.individual.net...
>
>
> "Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
> news:hj3df6$i46$1@news.albasani.net...
>> One CD seems to be enough for that one.
>>
>> It is a different beast from what you made, which is a *recovery* set,
>> not a *repair* disc.
>>
>> A recovery set takes your system back to its birth, that is, it ends up
>> exactly as it came from the factory, losing all changes that were made,
>> such as your data, your software, your user accounts, and so on.
>>
>> The repair disc lets you (insert dramatic pause here) *repair* Windows,
>> that is clean up some problems, supposedly leaving your stuff unchanged.
>
> Oops just seen your post You beat me to it

I keep forgetting to make one. Heh. Sometime soon, I guess.

 

[Ophelia]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

"Lord Vetinari" <vetinari@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:hj4sdq$5ka$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> "Ophelia" <Ophelia@Elsinore.me.uk> wrote in message
> news:7rl7fuFv2sU1@mid.individual.net...
>>
>>
>> "Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:hj3df6$i46$1@news.albasani.net...
>>> One CD seems to be enough for that one.
>>>
>>> It is a different beast from what you made, which is a *recovery* set,
>>> not a *repair* disc.
>>>
>>> A recovery set takes your system back to its birth, that is, it ends up
>>> exactly as it came from the factory, losing all changes that were made,
>>> such as your data, your software, your user accounts, and so on.
>>>
>>> The repair disc lets you (insert dramatic pause here) *repair* Windows,
>>> that is clean up some problems, supposedly leaving your stuff unchanged.
>>
>> Oops just seen your post You beat me to it
>
> I keep forgetting to make one. Heh. Sometime soon, I guess.

Oh do it!!! Sometime soon, might be a wee bittie too late... It will be
no good crying to me... I told ya and I pointed it out and I warned ya
too...

--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On 1/19/10, Ophelia posted:

> "Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
> news:hj3df6$i46$1@news.albasani.net...
>> One CD seems to be enough for that one.
>>
>> It is a different beast from what you made, which is a *recovery* set, not
>> a *repair* disc.
>>
>> A recovery set takes your system back to its birth, that is, it ends up
>> exactly as it came from the factory, losing all changes that were made,
>> such as your data, your software, your user accounts, and so on.
>>
>> The repair disc lets you (insert dramatic pause here) *repair* Windows,
>> that is clean up some problems, supposedly leaving your stuff unchanged.

> Oops just seen your post You beat me to it

> --

I hope I get extra points for being first

The other newsreader I'd been using recently updates headers manually
only, so I often answered posts with stuff that was out there already.
This one updates headers automatically, so now I do it less often...

--
Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com

 

[Ophelia]

"Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
news:hj50e7$5h9$1@news.albasani.net...
> On 1/19/10, Ophelia posted:
>
>> "Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:hj3df6$i46$1@news.albasani.net...
>>> One CD seems to be enough for that one.
>>>
>>> It is a different beast from what you made, which is a *recovery* set,
>>> not a *repair* disc.
>>>
>>> A recovery set takes your system back to its birth, that is, it ends up
>>> exactly as it came from the factory, losing all changes that were made,
>>> such as your data, your software, your user accounts, and so on.
>>>
>>> The repair disc lets you (insert dramatic pause here) *repair* Windows,
>>> that is clean up some problems, supposedly leaving your stuff unchanged.
>
>> Oops just seen your post You beat me to it
>
>> --
>
> I hope I get extra points for being first

Sure thang)


>
> The other newsreader I'd been using recently updates headers manually
> only, so I often answered posts with stuff that was out there already.
> This one updates headers automatically, so now I do it less often...
>
> --
> Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com
>
>
>

--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

 

[Lord Vetinari]

Re: Re: Make backup copy of installation disk?

"Ophelia" <Ophelia@Elsinore.me.uk> wrote in message
news:7rmcpmFlliU1@mid.individual.net...
>
>
> "Lord Vetinari" <vetinari@ameritech.net> wrote in message
> news:hj4sdq$5ka$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>> "Ophelia" <Ophelia@Elsinore.me.uk> wrote in message
>> news:7rl7fuFv2sU1@mid.individual.net...
>>>
>>>
>>> "Gene E. Bloch" <letters@someplace.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:hj3df6$i46$1@news.albasani.net...
>>>> One CD seems to be enough for that one.
>>>>
>>>> It is a different beast from what you made, which is a *recovery* set,
>>>> not a *repair* disc.
>>>>
>>>> A recovery set takes your system back to its birth, that is, it ends up
>>>> exactly as it came from the factory, losing all changes that were made,
>>>> such as your data, your software, your user accounts, and so on.
>>>>
>>>> The repair disc lets you (insert dramatic pause here) *repair* Windows,
>>>> that is clean up some problems, supposedly leaving your stuff
>>>> unchanged.
>>>
>>> Oops just seen your post You beat me to it
>>
>> I keep forgetting to make one. Heh. Sometime soon, I guess.
>
> Oh do it!!! Sometime soon, might be a wee bittie too late... It will
> be no good crying to me... I told ya and I pointed it out and I warned ya
> too...

It's not really a big deal to me, to start anew. I've done enough installs
over the years, that I can do it in my sleep (as is often the case).

 

[Prescott]

aaaaa wrote:
> If I buy a Window 7 system, can I back up the installation DVD to
> guard against the original disk becoming unreadable? If so how?
>
> I ask because years in the past, when I used NERO to make a CD copy of
> an XP CD installation disk, the second CD disk was not bootable. This
> hurt because when my original XP CD failed, I had to coerce MS to send
> me a new one. Pain.
>
> I think what I want to do is make an ISO image which when used to
> create a second installation disk, it will be bootable. Sound right?
> If I can do this, then I could store the ISO image file on a backup
> hard drive which I trust more than a DVD disk. I don't trust the
> shelf life of those disks any more.
>
> Well anyway, I tried Nero again on said old XP CD disk, and it
> generated an .nrg image file, which when I used it to burn a new CD
> disk, that disk would not boot either.
>
> Can someone advise how I can do what I need to do?

Get MagicISO. Either pay the nice man $29.95 or download the free trial

http://www.magicISO.com

Follow the directions.